In the last ten years, on-line auction capabilities, features, and functions have evolved at lightning speed. Nearly as popular as forward auctions (auctions where bidders enter higher bids in order to win the item or service sold by the seller), reverse auctions (auction where bidders enter lower bids to entice a buyer to select the item or service sold by the bidder) have become the procurement tool of choice in many industries.
It is typical that an on-line auction be conducted electronically. Each participant in an auction does so through a remote site. The participant typically sends information from its remote site via a communications network (e.g. a network services provider) to an auction coordinator at its own remote site; the coordinator sends information to the participant in the same manner. The auction is actually managed by a software application which usually includes a client component operating at the remote site of the participant and a server component which typically operates at the coordinator's remote site. The client component communicates the bids entered by the participant to the server component. The server component communicates updates about the auction to the client component. Most often the client component includes software used to connect to the server component, usually via telephone lines or the interne.
The popularity of the electronic auction format is evident by the dozens of auctions occurring at any one time. These auctions are forward or reverse or conducted with different auction rules. The auctions move nearly any kind of service and any kind of item. They are conducted by and for entities all over the world and may include participants scattered across the globe. The length of any given auction may be hours, days, or longer. The level of participation and the speed with which bids are placed vary with a number of factors. Because of the broad acceptance and the success of using this method to move services or products, the sheer volume of possible participants has motivated the development and implementation of tools to increase the efficiency of the auctions.
The entity wishing to purchase services or items from suppliers or an entity wishing to sell a service or item may employ a service to manage auctions on its behalf or may employ special tools to assist with the management of its auctions. The service may employ tools that provide means to separate and select possible participants. For example, the auction holder may be allowed to specifically designate certain suppliers it wishes the service to invite to the auction or to provide certain requirements for eligibility of suppliers which the service applies to determine the group of invitees. Often, such services use tools that store information about past participants, both buyers and sellers, making the group of invitees simple to select based on characteristics such as the physical location of the past participants, its inventory or offerings, or its credit standing. Further, stored information can be used to assess the likely participation of a particular supplier in a specific auction and may even be applied to set a prebid ceiling or floor for that supplier all based on its prior bidding behavior. It is not unusual to allow the entity wishing to purchase to set reserve prices, or to enter particular bid ceilings for a specific supplier with whom it has done business in the past or is the present encumbant of a supply contract with the auction holder.
With all of the auctions being conducted, it is typical that many occur at the same time or overlap to a certain extent. If a participant wishes to participate in several simultaneous auctions, and more than one is scheduled to close at a given time or one auction is extended so that its closing time coincides with that of another auction, then the participant is faced with the challenge of how to manage both auctions. It is often the case that the latter part of an auction enjoys the highest frequency of bidding activity which creates a difficult situation for the multi-auction participant. Further, bidding may be more complex than simply bidding a price and include factors such as distance, current inventory and ship date, and bidding on levels that include lots and/or line items. All of these factors together can create an auction wherein the auction holder does not receive the best bids because the participant is distracted and unable to participate effectively in simultaneous relevant auctions.
Those who manage multiple auctions have tried several approaches to solve the problem created by coincidental closing times. Often, auctions are scheduled to have staggered closing times. However, because of the propensity of some bidders to place their best bid just before the end of the auction thereby avoiding competitive bids, many auctions are set such that certain activity in the last minutes of the allotted time will act to extend the time to close the auction to allow other participants to adjust their bids if they so desire. When this happens, the extended closing time may coincide with or go beyond that of another auction the closing time of which had originally been staggered with that of the first auction, creating a situation where a participant cannot effectively participate in both auctions. To address this problem of coinciding closing times of multiple auctions, mechanisms to take into consideration the extension of the first lot and calculate specific extensions to be applied to each of several other auctions whose scheduled closing times would otherwise occur at the same time or before the first extended auction have been devised. However, these tools are fairly complex in the way they work and may result in so many changes a participant has difficulty keeping track or extends auctions participants had no interest in to begin with.
Further, several methods have been developed that allow a participant to group auctions together in order to help the participant manage bidding in simultaneous auctions. These methods include robot programs that allow the participant to prioritize the auctions, set a certain total amount of money for bid and set rules for placing bids and allocating and splitting bids in response to the progress of the market. However, to date there has not been a functional tool that facilitates grouping of auctions for the auction manager. There is a need for a tool that allows auction managers to group auctions in a manner that facilitates full participation by the invited participants. A tool functioning in this manner should create an environment conducive to placing the best possible bids and maximizing the possible benefit to the auction holder.
It is one objective of the present invention to provide a simple mechanism for triggering and setting extensions of time for related auctions based on activity in the leading auction.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a tool for grouping auctions to create a group of auctions described by a specified set of characteristics.
It is a final objective of the present invention to provide a means for grouping auctions in a manner that allows for participation by desirable participants and managing the closing times of such auctions to facilitate the full participation of the desired participants.